President Biden did not once mention his predecessor by name, but his inaugural address was a sustained rebuke to former President Donald Trump and the political climate of the past four years as he contrasted “unity” with “chaos” and “exhausting outrage.”
“The will of the people have been heard, and the will of the people has prevailed,” Biden said, referring to the protests challenging his Electoral College majority that culminated in the deadly breach of the U.S. Capitol. “Democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.” He mentioned the “riotous mob” that attacked the seat of American government.
“We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it,” said national poet laureate Angela Gorman directly after Biden’s speech. “Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.”
Biden pledged to the world, “those living beyond our borders,” that he would repair America’s alliances. He suggested the country was afflicted with a “war on truth” and stalked by domestic terrorists and white supremacists. He denounced “racism, nativism, fear [and] demonization.” All of these points were part of the prevailing critique of Trump since the real estate mogul and reality TV star descended the escalator inside his Manhattan tower to announce a candidacy for the White House in June 2015.
While Biden vowed to be a president for everyone in the United States, including the more than 74 million people who voted for his opponent, his remarks were most clearly directed at those rattled and upset by Trump’s tumultuous term. “Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path,” he said.
Instead, Biden sought to reassure these voters of America’s basic goodness. “This is a great nation. We’re good people,” the newly sworn-in 46th president declared.
The opening speech was always going to be a difficult balance. Trump’s presidency traumatized many of Biden’s voters. Yet despite two impeachments, Trump did not leave the White House in the same manner as Richard Nixon in 1974. The 45th president completed his term after losing a competitive election, even as he hesitated to accept its results until just this month.
Trump was conspicuous by his absence, having flown home to Florida rather than attend his successor’s inauguration. He wished the “next administration” luck but did not mention Biden by name. He was represented at Wednesday’s events by former Vice President Mike Pence, who had broken with him to preside over the certification of Biden’s win. Pence was succeeded by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Yet, Biden will soon have to hold together his 2020 coalition, which stretched from suburbanites who normally vote Republican to self-described socialists in the mold of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, without Trump.
Biden acknowledged the problems the country faced going forward, especially the pandemic and its accompanying economic disadvantages. He referred to the current moment as “this winter of peril and significant possibilities.” He said that he would be a voice for social justice months after the nation was rocked by protests following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in police custody: “The dream for justice for all will be deterred no longer.”
Still, Trump and his approach to politics were the unspoken targets of much of Biden’s speech.
“We must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured,” the president said at one point. “There is truth, and there are lies. Lies told for power and for profit,” he said at another, making this vow: “Defend the truth and defeat the lies.”
Biden spoke of the economic and cultural anxieties that drove support for Trump in the last two presidential elections. Then, he proclaimed, “The answer is not to turn inward.” Trump was often criticized as isolationist and xenophobic. “America has been tested,” he said, as if closing the book on his predecessor even as he at times sounded like he was still running against him.
“I believe America is so much better than this,” Biden said, adding that unity is not a “foolish fantasy.” He asked Trump voters to “hear me out as we move forward,” but he went on to say, “Disagreement should not lead to disunion.”
It remains to be seen how quickly the country turns the page on Trump after Wednesday’s festivities. Biden takes over as the Senate prepares a trial for the now-former president, the first impeachment to conclude after the chief executive has been replaced and can no longer be removed from office. If convicted, Congress may move to keep Trump from running again in 2024 — a potential rematch with Biden.
